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NEWS
GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Rolls-Royce Wraith
Coupe based on Ghost scheduled for global debut in MarchSuper luxury car maker Rolls-Royce will take the covers off an outrageous two-door coupe version of the gigantic Ghost at this year’s Geneva Motor show.
Update: The first image of the new Rolls-Royce Wraith has been revealed, showing off a low roof line that tapers off sleekly at the rear. The luxury car maker calls it a "graceful silhouette". Even from this shadowed teaser image it's clear the car is a Roller and the company promises the Wraith will deliver "extraordinary power" as it becomes "the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history".
Code-named the R5, insiders insist the car will be called the Wraith, and will be based off a shortened Ghost platform, but will still manage to weigh nearly 2.3 tonnes and will be priced above the four-door limousine.
The car is expected to be 5.2 metres long – enormous by two-door coupe standards – and is said to look more like an extravagant fastback, with a long, shallow tapered roofline, than a curvy, swoopy Latin coupe.
The Ian Cameron-penned Wraith has about 180mm cut from the Ghost’s wheelbase, which would still mean it will be around the 3.1 metre mark and will provide a lot of rear seat space.
Due to appear on March 5 and be in production before mid year, the Wraith will rekindle a nameplate Rolls-Royce first used in 1938 – about a year before it became more famous for Merlin engines than any car it built.
It will have a reworked version of the 6.6-litre, twin-turbo V12 engine from the Ghost, said to produce around 450kW and somewhere around 800Nm of torque.
Insiders insist its refinement will remain identical to the Ghost’s, though it will “surge” with more authority. It is still important to Rolls-Royce that the car is seen to be more genteel than brutal, though the V12 is expected to rev to 7200rpm.
It will be more of a car for drivers than the Ghost, which is aimed as much at the chauffer market as it is for drivers, and Rolls-Royce expects the Wraith to open up a completely new category for super luxury buyers.
It will carry most of the Ghost’s architecture, though it will have unique steering ratios to deliver more precision and sportiness, which it insists some customers have been asking for.
While Rolls-Royce’s parent, BMW, was weighing up two different names for the R5, it is believed the Wraith name was confirmed only weeks ago.
The good news keeps coming for Rolls-Royce lovers, as the Wraith’s impending arrival almost certainly guarantees a drop head version is in the wings as well. While insiders say a Shooting Brake-style two-door was discussed early in the Wraith’s development, there are no plans to deliver a Rolls-Royce version of the industry’s newest reborn fad.
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Written byMichael Taylor
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